There is something to be said for returning to the good old-fashioned English seaside. Foodie hotspots pull in gourmets, millionaire lairs tinkle with money, surfing beaches grab cool dudes, but as times get tougher we yearn for simpler things. Forget glitz. The traditional seaside has bags of charm and more affordable houses.

“Some areas are cheaper because they were discovered and have been spoilt,” says John Woodward, associate director of Geering & Colyer Country Homes. “But some have never become fashionable enough to attract the London buyer. Or they haven’t had a railway station to pull in the visitors. Others have fallen from popularity and then become foodie and been discovered again, like Whitstable in Kent.”

For lower prices, think differently. “In other parts of the county you can buy a house with a kitchen door which opens straight onto the beach for £300,000 to £400,000, which would cost £1 million to £2 million in a hotspot,” he says.

CROMER, Norfolk

Cromer has all the fun of the Victorian seaside, with the last end of the pier show in the country and house prices almost half those in Burnham Market to the west. “They start their search farther west and come here because it is great value for money and is absolutely lovely,” says Paul Newell, of Sowerbys.

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Christina Schwab and Stuart Harrald are selling three-bedroom Cecelia House for £349,950 via the agency (sowerbys.com; 01263 710777) . “We are a couple of steps from the prom and the pier. I can come home after work and pull on my bikini and swim,” says Christina, who, with Stuart, has a travel agency . “We have a wonderful roof terrace overlooking the church where we can sit and have a glass of wine.”

DYMCHURCH, Kent

This charming village is wedged between Romney Marshes and the sea, with miles of golden sandy beaches. It seems to have everything, on a very small scale. You still see children having donkey rides on the beach and elaborate sandcastles being built in the face of the oncoming tide. There is an amusement park with dodgems and a log flume, and a little railway, which runs to Dungeness in the west and Hythe in the east. The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch line opened in 1927 as “the world’s smallest public railway”.

"There is no mainline station to bring in commuters. It is an undiscovered gem,” says John Woodward. Geering & Colyer (geeringandcolyer.co.uk; 01227 477009) is selling Gun House, just along the coast at New Romney, for £600,000. It was built for a naval officer and has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a one-bedroom guest lodge and a coach house for conversion. John also has a pretty clapboard two-bedroom terrace house for sale at £165,000.

HAYLING ISLAND, Hampshire

A remnant of Fifties English seaside just off Portsmouth, Hayling Island is reached by a single road bridge. It is small but there are three miles of sand and shingle beach, sheltered waters and vantage points for watching vessels sail to and from the Continent. Old-fashioned groynes provide shelter from the wind. Cars have to travel under 30- 40 miles an hour. There are rollercoaster rides at Funland, a narrow gauge, a seafront railway from Eastoke, and fish and chips .

David and Lesley Mack are selling three-bedroom Pebble Cottage on Sea Front, overlooking the foreshore, through Morris Dibben (morrisdibben.co.uk; 023 9246 5941) at £300,000, in order to buy in the south of France. David has known the island since he was a boy. “We used to come over on day trips. The bridge was so rickety then, you used to have to get off the bus and walk across, then get on again at the other side, because the bridge couldn’t take the weight of the passengers.”

It is a sunny day and he has sardines on the barbecue at their beach hut opposite. The hut would add around £15,000 to the asking price. “We love it,” says David. “We can sit in bed in the mornings and watch the ships go by.”

FRINTON-ON-SEA, Essex

It is well known for its airs and graces, as it was developed by Sir Richard Powell Cooper a century ago as “a high-class and select watering place”. There was to be no commerce on the seafront, no pier or amusement arcades. Hence much of the late 20th century passed it by. In the old days, residents spoke of living “outside” the gates in contemptuous tones, the gates being an old level crossing on the railway, passed on entering Frinton proper.

The atmosphere remains sedate: tree-lined avenues, the esplanade, the clifftop greensward where people can set up their deck chairs, and smart clubs for tennis, golf, and cricket. One of the original six-bedroom Edwardian houses, Byfields, on Second Avenue, is for sale with John D Wood (johndwood.co.uk; 01245 344222) at £1.25 million. The garden, with tiered lawns and ornamental fish ponds, has a viewing platform overlooking the first green of the golf course. A little levity has crept in: the first pub opened in 2000 and shorts were allowed in the golf club in 2008.

KINGSAND AND CAWSAND, Cornwall

Two former fishing villages, cross-stitched with little streets and pretty houses, sit on the Rame Peninsula, which curls into the sea in front of Plymouth to create Plymouth Sound.

“This is the forgotten corner. It is so lovely,” says Sandy Lush of Marchand Petit.

“People go there in order not to shop or eat fish and chips. There is a community shop, a post office, a few pubs, but very little else.”

The best way to get there is by the ferry sailing between Plymouth Barbican and Cawsand beach. Sandy is selling Algoma, a four-bedroom, Grade II listed house, with loft space for conversion, close to the sea and tea shops at Kingsand. It is on sale for £619,950 (marchandpetit.co.uk; 01752 815222). “You can buy a house here for £700,000 which would cost £1.5 million in Salcombe,” says Sandy. “It is very good value.”